(Reuters) – Jason Day and Ernie Els advanced with relative ease while American Rickie Fowler and Frenchman Victor Dubuisson had to fight hard to reach the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship semi-finals in Marana, Arizona yesterday.
Australian Day beat ailing South African Louis Oosthuizen 2&1 to become the first player to make the last four at Dove Mountain while veteran Els progressed with a 4&2 win over an out-of-sorts Jordan Spieth in a match where he never trailed.
Fowler booked his place with a see-sawing, one-up victory over fellow American Jim Furyk, who came from three down after 12 holes to go one up after 16 before running out of steam, and Dubuisson edged Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell one up.
“Jim started to come on pretty hard there, I just had to stay patient,” Fowler told CBS Sports. “I forced him to make some birdies. I knew it was going to be tough for him to keep on doing that.
“I just made some good swings coming in. Obviously it’s nice to get a win, no matter how it happens.”
Fowler will next face Dubuisson while Day, beaten by eventual champion Matt Kuchar of the United States in last year’s semi-finals, will take on South African Els.
Dubuisson, making his debut this week in a World Golf Championships (WGC) event, rallied from two down after three holes against McDowell with five birdies over the next 12 to wrest control.
McDowell, who had delivered Houdini-like escapes to win his first three matches, faced a mid-range birdie putt at the 18th to force extra holes but his attempt slid past the left edge of the cup allowing the Frenchman to advance.
Day had trailed by one after Oosthuizen made a fast start with birdies at the second and third but then upped his game to take charge as his opponent had periodic back treatment from his physiotherapist out on the course.
“We both played well today … it didn’t seem like Louis had a sore back because the way he played was pretty good,” Day said after finishing birdie-birdie-par-par.
“I’ve loved match play ever since I was a little kid. You just have to grind at it and keep fighting until the end.”
RED-HOT PUTTER
Fowler, wielding a red-hot putter, birdied three of the first four holes to go three up on Furyk before his opponent briefly cut the deficit to one by winning the sixth and seventh holes.
Birdies at the ninth and 11th got Fowler back to three up but Furyk again rallied, levelling the match with three consecutive birdies from the par-five 13th.
PGA Tour veteran Furyk briefly went one up with a par at the short 16th, where Fowler bogeyed, but then stumbled when he bogeyed the par-four 17th after being bunkered off the tee for the match to reach the 18th all square.
After Fowler had comfortably reached the green in two, Furyk duffed his chip from just short of the putting surface on the way to another bogey as his opponent wrapped up victory with a two-putt par.
